National Cathedral and Washington DC

A week ago, we got home from a trip to Washington DC. This was my second trip in 6 months to our nation’s capital, after a visit gap of many decades. Even though the weather was very hot and muggy, it was particularly enjoyable to go with my family (my son Paul, daughter Jessica and her boyfriend Matt, husband John, and our friend Laura Biche). We were mostly there to hear Jessica sing opera but during the days, we did manage to visit a few wonderful places: the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans
Memorial, Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and the National Cathedral. We went by the Folger Shakespeare Library and were sorry to find it closed for the day. Congresswoman Eshoo’s office tried to get us White House tour tickets but they were unavailable.

The National Cathedral was very moving; I had never visited before. Since National Cathedral is Episcopal (and we are Episcopalian), we went to Sunday morning worship services. I have toured big impressive cathedrals and temples in many countries but they almost always belong to someone else’s religion: the Episcopal church mostly erects small buildings. I felt proud that this big beautiful place was created for the glory of God by my own church. The Space Window (including its moon rock fragment, a gift by the Apollo astronauts on the 5th anniversary of their moon landing) was particularly impressive. The memorial windows to Confederate Generals R.E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and the tomb of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson were also notable.

Paul reading the
Gettysburg Address